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Alpha Dog
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 41 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Crime | Drama
Written by: Nick Cassavetes
Directed by: Nick Cassavetes
Release Date:
Theatrical: January 12, 2007
DVD: May 1, 2007
Running Time: 117 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for pervasive drug use and language, strong violence, sexuality and nudity
Starring Ben Foster, Shawn Hatosy, Emile Hirsch, Sharon Stone, Justin Timberlake, Anton Yelchin, and Bruce Willis
Versatile filmmaker Nick Cassavetes directs an impressive group of both young and veteran performers in Alpha Dog, inspired by actual events, a film that follows three fateful days when the lives of a group of Southern California teens suddenly dead-ended. (Universal)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: John Q My Sister's Keeper The Notebook
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
LA Weekly Scott Foundas
In his best film to date, Nick Cassavetes directs with ferocious energy, taking scenes past their logical stopping points and pushing his actors (particularly Foster, who can be as terrifying as Edward Norton in "American History X") to, but never over, the precipice of absurdity.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Alpha Dog isn't a happy movie, but it's dramatically solid and the impressions it leaves will not be easily shaken.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Don't be fooled by the presence of some pretty-boy actors: Alpha Dog is a gritty, gut-wrenching and disturbing film.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
Cassavetes' instincts are spot-on, particularly when it comes to casting Timberlake in what turns out to be the most important role in the film. He manages to be both reprehensible and deeply charismatic, and winds up stealing the picture.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Around the midpoint Alpha Dog becomes less sociological and more personal, developing a real sense of suspense.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole
Like "Rebel", directed by Nicholas Ray, this film excels at capturing the nervous posturing of adolescent boys marking their territory by pissing on each other's shoes.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
The movie suffers from an uncertain structure, but it boasts an extraordinary naturalism, not particularly flattering. Sharon Stone has a brilliant, harsh turn as Zack's mom, and both Bruce Willis and Harry Dean Stanton have good turns as the elder generations of Trueloves. But the movie belongs to its youngsters, and it's a real eye-opener.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Robert Wilonsky
If nothing else, Alpha Dog's worth a look for the performance of Justin Timberlake, the moral center of a movie sorely in need of some conscience. Already a gifted comic actor--his Saturday Night Live appearances are now anticipated events--he proves himself able to go to a pitch-black place.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Alpha Dog may well go down as the most dispiriting film of 2007.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Justin Timberlake shows that he can do more as an actor than just take his shirt off - though he does that a lot as well - in the irresponsible, uncommercial but surprisingly watchable Alpha Dog.
Read Full Review >Premiere Ethan Alter
At its best though, the film offers a pointed critique of a youth culture that views someone like Jesse James Hollywood as a person to emulate.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
There's more voyeurism going on here, and less insight into a certain culture (the young and the wasted), than the filmmakers would probably admit to, but the performances are scarily real, and the outcome, well, is just scary.
Read Full Review >Empire Olly Richards
It suffers from ADD, but there's some terrific stuff in here. Leaving 15 minutes from the end and saving yourself a lumbering coda may improve enjoyment.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
Your enjoyment of Alpha Dog may very well depend on how put off you are by these facts, as well as how much you buy Timberlake in his role, and how in the mood you are to sit through "River’s Edge" set in the "Entourage" universe.
Read Full Review >Variety Justin Chang
Writer-director Nick Cassavetes' sprawling dramatization recklessly blurs the line between reconstruction and reality in ways that are admittedly interesting, if more than a little artistically suspect.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Had the film been more tempered in its textures, had Cassavetes chosen a surer attitude toward his subjects, it might have been devastating. As it stands, though, it's far more showy than substantial.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
For all of the credibility of the performances (or at least the teens), it all feels like recycled social commentary.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
All the bright colors Cassavetes splashes on the canvas don't make Alpha Dog art.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
The cretins rule in Alpha Dog, which has much the same entertainment value you get from watching monkeys fling scat at one another in a zoo or reading the latest issue of Star magazine. Of course a little of that nasty stuff may land on you, but such are the perils of voyeurism.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Timberlake walks off with the movie. Too bad it's not worth stealing.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Cassavetes throws in everything he can recycle to grab a core-demo viewer -- slutty teens making out, blaring rock music, guns, split screens.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
The whole thing is dizzying, like "Moulin Rouge" without songs and dances extolling love.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
As it escalates to a nasty conclusion, Alpha Dog doesn't have the moral or emotional weight of tragedy. These aren't the psychologically exploded youths of "Rebel Without a Cause," or even "The Outsiders." They're characters in a long, violent, unbleeped episode of MTV's "Cribs."
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Who would have thought that a real-life tale of sex, drugs and murder could be so instantly forgettable?
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Apart from the grim forebodings of tragedy, writer-director Nick Cassavetes seems to have modeled this ambitious docudrama on Larry Clark's kiddie-porn shockers, but he doesn't know what to leave out, and the movie becomes excessively complicated with ancillary agendas.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
It's another portrait of amoral, hedonistic youth gone awry, a la Larry Clark's "Bully", and it is alternately engrossing and ridiculous, often in the span of one scene to the next.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
In this mess of a picture, Timberlake may be the rookie actor, but he's also the one to watch, the movie's North Star. The rest may as well be pinholes in a box.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman
It's a soggy drama said to be inspired by actual events – too serious to be trashy, too trashy to be serious.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
In a film with several over-the-top characters bordering on camp, Timberlake's Frankie is the only one who approaches three dimensions, adept at convincingly dishing out some of the movie's disturbing violence as well as registering subtle shifts in Frankie's allegiance.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Its main feature is incessant, unimaginative profanity...Take out the cursing, and you're left with a plebeian drama about angry, aimless potheads, sloppily directed by the man who wrote it.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.3 (out of 10) based on 41 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Filipe M. gave it a10:
A glossy yet unflinching portrait of violent, hedonistic teenagers. Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone chew the scenery, while Justin Timberlake gives a noteworthy performance. Anton Yelchin is able to bring all of the conflicting emotions of Zach and conveying all of it beautifully.
Robin R gave it a9:
It saddens me that this movie has been put aside by viewers because of the words "Justin's in it so why watch?" This film was vulgar, I believe it was on a top 100 list of some sort for how many times it says the "f word." However, Alpha Dog is one of my favorite movies because of the reality vibe it gives. I laughed and I cried. Alpha Dog should definitely be considered one of the best films of 2007. The buildup to the climax of the plot line is just wonderfully portrayed by Yelchin and yes, even Timberlake. His acting was very good and this. I really wish people could see him as an actor off the street and not view him as an image of his past. He has evolved quite well, and Alpha Dog is a big step in the rise of his success. Overall, I thought this film was beautifully acted and carried out.
Xtian C gave it a9:
Enjoyable, and well acted. A startling insight into true events, it shows how kids are becoming more and more desensitized ad anti-social. Excellent social comment.
Kathi S. gave it a9:
As a 47-year-old woman with a 53-year-old husband we did not expect to love this movie. We did, though. Timberlake was great but I thought the rest of the cast was, too. I don't kn ow why it received all the bad reviews. Was it really just the cursing. Big deal. I know it was disturbing but real life often is. We loved the movie and plan on buying the DVD.
Jan B. gave it a1:
The worst movie of 2007 i've seen. Had doubts about Timberlake's acting skills, but he was the only one making the movie a little bit interesting. Very very boring movie.
Gabor A. gave it a2:
This movie is indeed bad, but bad isn't the most apt description. Absurd is. Everything about this movie is absurd from the story to the directing to the editing. The acting is the most ridiculous. JT takes this as an opportunity to show us how black he is, not at all. Foster, who is usually reliable, is an over the top joke. Emile Hirsch does a Leonardo DiCaprio impersonation the whole movie. And everyone else just acts stoned even if they're not.
oliver s. gave it a9:
I usually am more a fan of the classics than new films, however i found this film enjoyable and to have a very good story. I thought it depicted the characters perfectly and gave shock and horror. I am not at all a Justin fan but acted exceptionally well in this film. All in all the acting was great, the script was great and the plot was great.
